weight loss cardiff answers:
The Anshar Diet
As an American I’ve seen enough crazy fad diets in my day to fill several weeks full of infomercials and advertisements. As such I’m going to give you the benefit of many years of health and nutrition classes and do my good deed for the year.
I’m going to tell you how to not only lose weight but change the composition of your body, increase your health, and best of all.. Keep it off.
First, let’s dispel some common myths.
Myth 1:
Eating less calories will make me lose weight.
Unfortunately this isn’t always true. A lot of different factors program your metabolism but one of the key things is how OFTEN you eat. If you fast all day long and then have a 500 calorie meal at the end of the day almost ALL of it will be stored by your body.
Myth 2:
I can have a diet with no carbs and be healthy.
This really is a testament to how much Americans want a quick fix. Diets like the Atkin’s Diet cause your body to start devouring itself, increase your cholesterol, and in certain cases can even kill you. One thing I WON’T argue, death will indeed cause you to lose weight, permanently.
Myth 3:
If I go on a diet I will lose weight.
99% of people who go on diets will end up putting on MORE weight than they lost from a diet. This is because diet is supposed to be a LIFESTYLE change, not something you do for 2 weeks. If you starve your body it will make fat cells and increase their size even faster.
Myth 4:
I need to go out and exercise to lose weight.
This isn’t actually true but it’s important to say that having daily activities WILL keep you healthy. If you burn almost no calories every day what else do you think your body is going to do with them? Balancing a healthy lifestyle with a good diet is what you want here, not killing yourself by running every afternoon.
Myth 5:
The scale in my bathroom gives me a good idea of how healthy I am.
The dreaded bathroom scale does NOT tell you how healthy you are. Let’s say I have 10 lbs of fat, don’t drink water, and have little muscle mass. Then I work out for 3 months and hydrate every day. I lose 5 lbs of fat but gain 7 lbs of muscle and 3 pounds of average water weight. What will happen when I look at the scale? Are you being fair to yourselves? Judge yourself by how you feel, not what a spinning number under your feet tells you.
With these common myths out of the way I’ll tell you the secret. It’s five simple steps.
~~The Anshar Diet~~
1. Only eat until you are no longer hungry.
This does NOT mean that you starve yourself. It means after you take a few bites of food ask yourself if you’re still hungry. If you’re not, into the fridge it goes. While we’re at it, CHEW YOUR FOOD. At least 10 times per bite (using common sense if you’re eating applesauce, this isn’t an excuse to be an idiot).
2. Eat at least 6 (more if your schedule allows) meals a day.
I know this seems counterintuitive, but hear me out. If you eat 6-8 meals a day the meals are very small (often around 100-200 calorie “snacks”), provided you are only eating until you are NOT HUNGRY. When your body is not hungry your metabolism will not try to store energy as fat. It really is that simple. Smaller meals aid in digestion, they increase the nutrition you get from your food, and they keep you from being lethargic. If you eat when you’re hungry your body stores MORE of it as fat (“Hmm. I’m hungry, I don’t know where my next meal will come from! I’d better hold onto this.”)
3. Eat BEFORE you get hungry.
Schedule your 6-10 meals throughout the day and stick to them. If you’re waiting until you get hungry to eat you’ve already screwed this up. Your body stores energy if you’re hungry, if your body sees food and just takes what it needs then you’re running at optimum efficiency. This is called programming your metabolism.
4. Eat breakfast. Always.
Your first meal of the day is also the meal you have no choice over being hungry for. Your body has been replenishing itself all night and needs fuel. Since now you KNOW that hunger means you store your food then that means you want to keep breakfast LIGHT. A cup of cereal and a banana. A granola bar and an apple. LIGHT does NOT mean you skip breakfast. If you skip breakfast you are telling your metabolism to turn ALL of the next meal you eat into stored fat.
5. Drink water.
(I’m a big hypocrite on this one, but I can’t stress it enough) Most people think that if they pick up a glass of orange juice instead of a soda they’re doing themselves a favor, and that’s not entirely true. A glass of orange juice can have just as many calories as some sodas. Try looking at the label sometime. If you’re thirsty, drink water. If you love your soda then have your soda (real soda, not diet, artificial sweetners have been argued to be one of the worst things to ever happen to western civilization). If you decide to have a drink to treat yourself, pour yourself a half glass, don’t take a can or bottle with you and for go
